King of the Sea

(The). The herring.

“The head of an average-sized whale is from fifteen to sixteen feet
[about one-third the length], and the lips open some six or eight
feet; yet to such a mouth there is scarcely any throat, not
sufficiently large to allow a herring to pass down it. This little
scaly fellow [the herring], some fourteen inches in length, would choke
a monster whale, and is hence called `the king of the sea.” —C.Thomson: Autobiography, p. 132.